Thursday, October 22, 2015

The Barreracudas - Can Do Easy LP - White Vinyl (/100)

Oops Baby (2015)

The Barreracudas are another refugee from the sadly missed Douchemaster records. They have paired up with Oops Baby records for their sophomore album Can Do Easy. It's a very strong follow-up to their debut, with more party-garage anthems and buckets and buckets of hooks.

While their sound is definitely rooted in a poppier garage rock, the band shows some real diversity on this album. From the pogo punk blast of "Playliens" to the Tom Petty style rambling of "Cut Me Loose" to their tried and true pop of "Promises," Can Do Easy certainly covers more ground than they did on their first album. It's just hit after hit, though I will say one thing has started to stick in my craw a bit about the lyrics to "Promises."

I probably should have mentioned this when I reviewed the "Promises" 7" a few weeks back, but I've listened to this album many more times than that 7". Part of the lyrics to "Promises" go: "I've got a pocket full of quarters now/and I'm your Donkey Kong." I don't know what that means. If the singer is the actual Donkey Kong, why would he need a pocket full of quarters for anything? If the singer is the game Donkey Kong, first off, where would these pockets be? And again, to what end would having a pocket full of quarters benefit him? If he wanted someone to 'play him' wouldn't they need the pocket full of quarters? I'm probably trying to read way to much into a line that just fit in the rhyming pattern, but every time I hear the songs I start thinking about this now.

Anyway, Donkey Kong confusion aside, Can Do Easy is a top notch Barreracudas album. It has so many catchy songs and good times; it was absolutely worth the wait.